The Cost of Negative States

When people say to me that they do not know what to observe in themselves, one answer is: "Can you observe your negative states? Can you observe that you are negative?" Remember, as I said, if you are negative it is always your fault. Self-justifying has such sway over us however that it takes us years before we can realize what this means.

Remember, if I am negative it is my fault. I have allowed something to turn sour which I should never allow to turn sour. But to observe all the negative states in oneself belongs to a great inner sincerity and therefore a great belief in what the Work teaches. Why should I not be negative ? a person might ask. The answer is that this is one of the essential teachings of the Work. If you are negative you will conduct wrong influences and you will never get in touch with the influences from Higher Centers which have such a gentle and curative value and can change your level of being imperceptibly.

Maurice Nicoll, “Observation of Certain I’s" in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 4, p. 1330)